Today is the final day for the general public to have their say about the proposed changes to railway ticket offices. To call them 'changes' is a little deceptive. The plan is to close almost all of them. The RMT union is campaigning to keep them all open, and regularly post photos of long queues … Continue reading The Railway Ticket Office
This month, I celebrated my seventh anniversary on the railways. Seven years since I turned up at the local station for my first day. It’s been a blast. I love my job, as far as jobs go. If they stop paying me, I stop coming in. That might sound like common sense, but there’s plenty … Continue reading Reforming the Railways
Yesterday, a ‘new’ train ran on my line. It was a one off service to London, stopping at only three stations before Waterloo. Bournemouth, Southampton and Basingstoke. It sat at each station for fifteen minutes or so to allow staff, new and old, gathered on the platforms a few moments to chat and reflect. The … Continue reading Railway Fame, Part Two
This photograph needs some explaining. The little lady in pink wanted to be famous. She wanted to be a television star, if only for a few seconds. The three people behind her are a camera team for Michael Portillo’s Great Railway Journeys. Alas, the camera is pointed in entirely the wrong direction as far as … Continue reading Railway Fame, Part One
The world about me is more cheerful. It’s noticeable. It really is. People are happier, and less bothered by other people. Lockdown has come to an end, and despite all the chatter about ‘end of lockdown anxiety’, most people have emerged from their caves and started going about their business as normal. People have stopped … Continue reading Finding Happy
I’ve been looking for the right location to get this shot for a while. I’d always been looking for a location outside of the station. There is an angle, but it’d require a panorama photo to get everything in, and a very distorted one at that. But I should have been looking for a spot … Continue reading Twenty Years
I turned up to work early yesterday morning. By early, I mean 6am. When the world is still in the pitch black of night, ice is trying to form on the car windscreen and if you see anyone about, he or she is most likely to be a fox. The chap scheduled to work the … Continue reading The Last Train
The Mexile 